Day 5 in Review

Crystal's account of Day 5 (Saturday March 22nd):

• Savannah-Hope slept in her bed last night waking up a couple of times for her pacifier. She joined me in my bed at 7am. We snuggled for awhile and then decided it was time for breakfast.
• Savannah-Hope had rice cereal with apple blueberries. Mrs. Miller made bacon, eggs and cinnamon rolls (okay so roughing it isn't all bad).
• We watched a Baby Einstein Video and then a family video so that Savannah-Hope could see her brothers and sisters.
• We rested and took a nap together
• Savannah-Hope has only had one dirty diaper since I have been here, I think she could really use another one. I have tried giving her juice and water which she spits out and then screams. She also didn't want any baby food that would help in this department. And a warm bath was not an option because the electricity kept shutting off before I could get some water heated.
• Tried the ridiculous knee pads again. She worked like crazy to pull them off her legs and then enjoyed using them as a chew toy.
• Mrs. Miller worked on putting booklets together for the Bible College.
• I was able to talk to Shane for quite awhile as he drove the girls to Chattanooga to see My Little Pony Live. I can't wait to hear all about it.
• I also talked to Mimi, Poppy and the boys.
• Clifford, one of our guards, came today to kill the rats in the attic. I can hear them playing soccer above my head at night and am afraid they are going to fall through the ceiling and land on me. Clifford is my hero!
• I had an upset tummy most of the day and used up quite a bit of our standing water supply to flush the toilets.
• Funniest moment: I was laying on the couch with Savannah sitting on my tummy facing me. I placed a burp cloth over hear head and said "where's Savannah??". She then let out the hugest man sized burp you ever heard. I pulled the burp cloth off and we both laughed.
• Sweetest moment: I got my first spontaneous kiss from Savannah today!
• Tomorrow we are going to church at Good Samaritan. I am excited to finally spend a holiday with Savannah-Hope. When we first accepted her referral, we thought that she might be home for Halloween. Then Thanks Giving for sure....then Christmas, New Years, Valentines, St.Patricks.....but no. Easter is tomorrow, our first holiday together.

A few words about Savannah-Hopes clothes:

Today I set out to go through Savannah-Hope's belongings. This was so much harder than I thought. I am looking through the clothes and thanking God for the many blessings he has given to Savannah. Then at the same time I am thinking about all the babies I have seen just wrapped in cloth and no clothes. Other babies wearing clothes that are filthy with huge holes. How can I not leave these clothes for them, when I am going back to America where we have a WalMart on every corner. Then I will see something that was bought and hand-picked for Savannah, and I think about how much she has lost in her little life, how can I take something from her that belongs to her. Then I think okay lets just go through and see what she needs. I think right away that she doesn't have any fancy church socks and she doesn't have any shoes. Then immediately I am reminded that 90% of the people I have seen here have been barefoot. Does my 10 month old baby that doesn't walk really NEED shoes? Then I see her birthfather's face in my mind. He came to Court two days in a row to give consent for the adoption....barefoot. He doesn't own a pair of shoes. He is a grown man that works everyday in a field and he has no shoes. I put her clothes in some stacks and then got so sick to my stomach I just put them aside. I think I will have Thandie come over and help me sort this out another day. The word "need" really takes on a new meaning when you have been in the poorest country in the world for five days.